Speeches by MacDonald.

“May I come back to the community benefits, which the hon. Member brought up in her intervention on me? The community benefits will be hundreds of millions for 25 years or the life of the project. It will be absolutely transformational to the most rural parts of Britain; it is not just something that will come and go.”

“I will speak about the Crown Estate’s borrowing powers and the broadening of its investment scope. These changes are intended to enhance the Crown Estate’s capacity to support our ambitious goals for renewable energy, nature recovery and economic growth. The Bill is undoubtedly a significant step forward in enabling th…”

“Despite the 3 million people who signed this petition, we know that the Government will continue to stand. That said, the petition is an excellent thing, because it has let the Government know how deeply unpopular many of their policies have been. I feel that many Members on the Government side are rather ashamed of ma…”

“I do not understand this, and it is a hugely important issue. Say there are 100,000 tonnes a month produced and 2.5% of them die in that month, that equates to 1.2 million tonnes a year—just say 12 months—and then that would still be 2.5%, so I do not understand the figure. Are we seeing 25% of all the fish dying or ar…”

“I still do not understand it, but we shall ask the industry as well. Thank you.”

“Sean, sorry to come back to you on this subject of morts. In point 11 of your paper you said morts are 25% annually. We know there are about 150,000 tonnes of salmon produced a year. Let’s take it as 12,500 per month. The industry claimed there are 2.5% of morts in a month. That is 3,750 tonnes a year, so it is 312 ton…”

“Can I also make a disclosure, which I did not do? I have a Highland Cinema in Fort William and Mowi is one of the advertisers and supporters of that business. Sorry, I meant to state that before my question.”

“If you go on a fishing boat, there is obviously no timescale to kill them. The boats catch anything, and they do not have any of that requirement. The farm regulation and the farmed fishing is so tight that I wonder if we are effectively in danger of driving the industry away from Scotland to places like Chile.”

“Sean, there is another question that I want to put forward that is basically about the Assured scheme you have and whether we should be enforcing higher welfare standards. Also, do you want to make a comment about wild fish? Is there any chance that we are putting so many strict regulation requirements on the farmed fi…”

“Sean, can I ask you: in your paper at 1.11 it said 25% mortality a year and in the Salmon Scotland paper it said 2.5% per month, and obviously that is roughly the same. Is it 2.5% or is it 25%?”

“So the result—I do not want to put words in your mouth—is us exporting our food production away from Britain?”

“Do you see production moving to other countries, for example, Chile, to the detriment of Scotland over the next few years?”

“Just for disclosure, this is the biggest sector in my constituency, and I know all the companies and I know many of the people involved, including Ben Hadfield. In 2016, there was an indication from the aquaculture sector, including salmon producers, that the industry would double the sector’s economic value by 2030. A…”

“Apologies for being late. I ask the Minister if the Government have considered the impact on the hospitality industry in Scotland from the national insurance changes? The reason I ask is that we do not have business rates relief in Scotland, and I believe the impact of the changes is going to be massively bad for the h…”

“Is the Minister aware of the complete disaster this will cause for Scottish hospitality businesses? We do not have business rates relief, as businesses do in England Wales. We have a very large number of young people in the hospitality sector. For example, for someone working part-time for 25 hours a week on the minimu…”

“The hon. Gentleman keeps talking about the largest businesses, but the Government are completely wiping out small and medium-sized businesses across the whole hospitality and retail sector. This is a catastrophic piece of legislation. He talks about a kamikaze Budget; we are considering a kamikaze Budget right here, to…”

“Does the hon. Gentleman not agree that the impact of this measure is hitting the most vulnerable businesses and the most vulnerable charities throughout the United Kingdom? Surely a much better way of raising the money—which I can understand is needed—would be to raise corporation tax, or to increase taxes on, for inst…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“The £500 million set aside for the shared rural network was instigated by the previous Government. In the highlands of Scotland, it is organised by land mass, rather than the geographic concentration of people. If the Minister wants to find £300 million or £400 million of that to help with the roll-out of broadband, he…”

“Will the Minister allow humble servants such as myself to get involved in that? I have spent several years working with the Highland council and others on community benefits, and I would appreciate a meeting.”